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Cohen Discusses E. Timor Plight As He Nears End Of Asia Mission

October 03, 1999|By From Tribune News Services.

SINGAPORE — U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen met Saturday with Singapore Defense Minister Tony Tan and other leaders of this key Asian city-state to discuss the peacekeeping situation in East Timor and bilateral military ties.

Cohen also was to confer with Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and President S.R. Nathan as he neared the end of a weeklong trip to five Asian nations.

Small but prosperous Singapore, a close friend of Washington, sits strategically between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca. Cohen was to pay a visit Saturday to a naval facility being built by Singapore to accommodate U.S. aircraft carriers and other visiting warships.

Cohen's trip, which takes him to the Philippines on Sunday before flying home, has focused on the violent rampage by pro-Indonesian militia thugs through East Timor after an overwhelming majority of citizens voted in August for independence from Jakarta.

An Australian-led peacekeeping force is now fanning out in the former Portuguese colony, where thousands are believed to have been slain by militiamen backed by Indonesia's armed forces.